Now We Fall
by raindropdays
Summary: Mayaka is best friends with a girl she's never met and in love with a man she no longer knows. But, what if she could redo everything? Five distinct timelines will converge, warp, and diverge again as Mayaka makes a journey to right the wrongs made for love. But, she'll have to overcome betrayal, murder and ghosts first in order to set everything right. *M for sexual content*
1. Timeless Injustice

"_Now we fall." _

He smiled, and she fell in love with him all over again. But, the taste of his lips made her cringe, as she realized his words were not a loving taunt, but a cruel promise.

* * *

8

Try again.

3 – 5 – 12 – 16

Try again.

6 – 2 – 7 – 13 – 17

Try again.

11 – 4 – 10 – 14

Try again.

1 – 9 – 15

Time's up.

* * *

Timeless Injustice

* * *

Fire burns and time kills.

Perhaps, you shouldn't play with either.

But, we are curious children vying for love, and power, and the thrill of feeling needed—of feeling important. All of which for just a taste, we'd sell our own souls.

Play with fire, and you're going to get burned.

Play with time, and you will _die_.

* * *

_Fall, 2013_

* * *

Oreki Houtarou noticed several notable things simultaneously about Ibara Mayaka as she stood before him, blocking his route of escape. Firstly, she was out of breath, and the perspiration on an otherwise cool September day seemed out of place, beading on her brow. Secondly, there were small splotches of pink under each of her strangely frantic eyes, indicating that she had been crying, or at least, quite upset rather recently. Thirdly, her Kamiyama High School uniform skirt was ripped slightly, a large tear running vertically, approximately four inches in length near her left knee. And finally, she wore on her right hand ring finger, a modest, but beautiful golden ring, set with three tiny amethysts, an accessory that he couldn't recall her wearing before.

Now, Oreki was not the type to constantly survey Ibara Mayaka's every action, nor did he care much for her day-to-day change in appearance. However, he noted rather significantly that he had seen the usually bold girl not less than ten minutes ago when he had left the Classics clubroom, and she had not been sporting any of these oddities back then. Unfortunately, Oreki was somewhat intrigued, though it was his worry and natural concern for a fellow club member that pushed him to stay and listen rather than continue walking far, far away from a world of complex mysteries and the enigma that Ibara Mayaka had just recently become.

"Ibara—" he began, though his voice seemed to stir something within Mayaka, and instantly she snapped to attention, lurching forward slightly with the weight of heavy words housed somewhere deep in her belly just itching to get out. The suddenness of her movement startled him, and he had to pause to collect his thoughts.

He noticed her right fist clenched tightly around an object as her lips followed suit, clamping down around a truth too terrible to speak.

Oreki took a breath.

"What's wrong?" he asked, her frantic eyes boring into his own. At the intensity of her gaze, he took a step back and for a moment, a tinge of fear tingled in his spine, a distinct urge to run suddenly flowing in his blood, though he could not place why.

"Oreki," Mayaka's voice was barely a whisper when she finally spoke—a terrible, frightened whisper, and Oreki had to strain to hear her words. "I know who did it."

It took a moment for the message to register in Oreki's mind as being a complete thought given he had no idea to whom or what Mayaka was referring. He was sure his face was completely blank, and in any normal situation, the usually feisty Mayaka would have called him out on it. But, she did no such thing, and very quickly, and almost horrifically, Oreki began to realize this was not a normal situation.

"Who did what?" he finally asked slowly, trying to piece together the broken fragments Mayaka was giving him.

This was probably why their teamwork was subpar at best.

Mayaka inhaled sharply, and Oreki deduced that she was scared. He imagined a frightened Mayaka suddenly bursting with an explanation for the mystery, clutching to him without touching him, as she so often managed to do, with her wide eyes filled to the brim with curiosity and a burning passion for comprehension. He imagined her pout when he denied her his help, her taunting, her annoying jabs, following him all the way to the street corner where they parted ways for their respective homes.

But, instead of using her breath as fuel for a barrage of assault, Mayaka exhaled slowly, her very being seemingly leaking from her parted lips. Slowly, her eyes dropped from Oreki's, and stare dejectedly at the ground.

"I know who killed her," she answered plainly, her voice uncharacteristically devoid of emotion.

Too many things were wrong, not only what Mayaka was saying, but also how she was saying it. Oreki wanted to take her to the nurse, to walk her home, to ask her to sit down while he got her some water—anything to bring Mayaka back to a state of sense. He was sure she was crazy, overworked, overstressed, overheated. He made to step towards her to somehow assure her that no one had been killed and that everything was fine when she spoke again, causing him to freeze in his tracks.

"The girl who dies at four pm," she continued lifelessly. In that moment, a fit of regret seemed to seize her and her whole body shook with a silent sob born of the truth housed in her bones. Staring at the ground, clutching right fist tighter and tighter around what Oreki now realized was a watch, she let a few tears run down her face and onto the sidewalk below them.

Oreki was suddenly finding it hard to find his voice as he watched Mayaka break down before him, and for once, his mind capable of deducing the answers to so many riddles, was blank. He swallowed hard, and took a small breath, focusing on Mayaka's crumpling figure. She clearly had not had enough sleep. He needed to get her home, or to a doctor. He would calm her down, and then take her there, and everything would sort itself out. Everything would be fine.

"Ibara, you're stressed out and need to calm down," Oreki advised, though his own anxiety was only thinly veiled.

In that moment, Mayaka seemed to snap, and all her usual energy came rushing forward as she screamed with tears still rushing down her face, "She dies! She dies at four pm! She jumps off the roof, and she dies! And it's not an accident!"

Oreki froze. Half-startled by Mayaka's sudden outburst, half-shocked by the words she had said, he could do nothing but stare as she whispered, "please."

Please what? Please help me? Please believe me? He wanted to ask, but his throat had gone dry.

"_Come with me. Come this way." _

And then suddenly, in the distance, a scream tore through the lonely schoolyard, as bone chilling and horrifying as the truth of Mayaka's words.

* * *

**A/N: So, here we are at my Hyouka fanfiction (finally!). I'm putting the author's note at the bottom this time, since I didn't want to take away from the importance of that initial introduction and the formatting up there. So a few notes pertaining to this one: **

**1) It will be told in a series of drabbles. There will be 18 in total. **

**2) True to the Hyouka nature, this story is a mystery. Pay attention, everything is important! Though, I promise, if you pay close attention to the clues I give, by the end, you will know both the culprit and motive :)**

**3) This story will have dark themes and elements.**

**4) Rated M for sexual themes.**

**5) Pairings include not only SatoshixMayaka, but also OrekixMayaka, OrekixChitanda and OrekixIrisu. (I'm having fun with this XD) **

**7) And finally, true to the summary, this story will feature five distinct timelines that will overlap, warp and diverge again. I suspect that it will be rather confusing, but I'm also excited to hear your theories as we go along, so do share them in your reviews! After all, this is a mystery to be solved, right? XD The predictions may also help me write a more coherent solution given this is the first mystery I've ever attempted... **

**8) Oh yeah, title credit to the lovely Nayuki Bunny. :D**

**Thank you so much for reading! I promise quick updates with this one (since each chapter is just a short, little drabble). **

**And always, please review! Reviews make me happy and would help me get back into FF after a two year hiatus... cough cough. XD **


	2. The Magician's Doll

**A/N: Warning for explicit sexual content below. Enoy~ :)**

* * *

"Now we fall."

He murmured the words against her skin despite how much he knew they bothered her. Despite how much he knew they made her skin crawl and her breath catch. Despite how much he knew they made her own tongue taste bitter in her mouth.

He murmured the words against her skin as he pulled her closer to him, his hands spread wide on the small of her back, fingertips imprinting his mark into her soft skin, made pink from the pressure.

Her murmured the words with a smile as her body molded against his and he remembered again that she was not only his, but also not her own.

* * *

The Magician's Doll

* * *

_Winter, 2023_

* * *

Mayaka gasped as Satoshi's fingertips pressed into her bareback, her shirt inching further and further up her torso.

The soft sound of ticking filled the apartment, resonating in the space left devoid of emotion or love. To drown out the reminder that the ticking brought, Mayaka moaned louder, responding to each of Satoshi's brushes and prods with bursts of enthusiasm that not only entertained Satoshi, but made Mayaka inwardly cringe as though she had been caught telling a lie.

If she could have, Mayaka would have laughed at her sorry state of affairs.

She would have laughed at the way Satoshi's lips parted and blew warm puffs of breath onto her collarbone, causing her skin to tingle. She would have laughed at the way his fingers traced the curves of her breasts and hips with surreal precision, garnered from years spent learning the very way in which she moved. She would have laughed at the way he rocked his body forwards to meet her own, ensuring that no inch of her was without him. But instead, her mind was consumed by the ever-prevalent presence of Satoshi Fukube's weight pressing further and further into her, and the echoes of a pocket watch on the nightstand by their bed.

Mayaka scrunched her eyes shut as Satoshi leaned away from her, the orange of his eyes glinting in the strange moonlight that shone through their living room window. In this fleeting moment, Mayaka felt her breath catch in her throat as she struggled to make her limbs work again. With trembling hands, she moved to straighten her shirt, to fix her skirt, and to brush loose strands of hair from her face. But, the fog born of nervous excitement that boiled in her belly clouded her mind and her actions slowed to a feeble pace, which caused Satoshi to smirk.

And why shouldn't he be amused as Mayaka struggled to make reason or rhyme of the situation? His smile widened almost cruelly as he watched her fidget beneath him. He almost dared her to try and escape, though they both knew that that was far, far from possible.

Mayaka tried to avoid eye contact with Satoshi as she counted down the seconds to the inevitable. Seven ticks of the pocket watch passed before he moved forward, slowly, yet deliberately. Using his body, he pinned her to the cold wall, ignoring the whimper of pain that escaped her lips as her lower back ground hard against the crown molding that framed their small apartment. On the table, a few feet away, sat their empty plates from dinner, neglected in the heat of the moment.

In the back of her mind, thoughts from earlier in the day swirled around just below the surface of Mayaka's consciousness. She thought about how she had burned dinner due to her absentmindedness born of restlessness and worry over a banal life. She thought about her manga editor who had clicked her tongue disapprovingly at Mayaka's latest piece of work. She thought about how she had spilled the contents of her change purse in line at the grocery store, an innocuous act really, but one that had brought her nearly to tears when coupled with everything else that seemed wrong in her life.

And she thought about how she had been explaining all of this to Satoshi just minutes before he had decided to silence her fears and worries with her own gasps.

Or was it just that he preferred her voice when it was used for moans as opposed to recounting her silly thoughts?

Satoshi snaked one arm around Mayaka's small shoulders before running his hand down her back, laying it flat to hold her firmly in place. Using his other hand, he squeezed at her breasts, his eyes widening as hers shut, and moans of pleasure escaped her lips. Devilishly, he wondered why she even bothered trying to hold them in when they came spilling so freely at his slightest touch.

Dipping forwards, Satoshi let his lips graze the outer lobe of Mayaka's ear, as his hand made the precarious journey from her breasts further and further south.

"Isn't this what you wanted?" he breathed against her skin, his fingertips brushing at her stomach, which her shirt had left exposed and vulnerable in the heat of the moment.

Mayaka struggled to answer, as she felt Satoshi's knee push her legs apart, creating an easier point of access for his urgent fingers.

"Mayaka-chan?" he whispered, his tongue flicking at the sensitive skin of her neck. As though he expected an answer. As though he didn't know the answer he made her say again and again for his own gratification. As though they were innocent children in high school again. As though they had never fallen.

"Isn't this what you wanted?"

Mayaka parted her lips to give him his precious reply, but as soon as she did, he silenced her swiftly with a violent kiss. Immediately, his fingers darted between her legs and rubbed at the sensitive area between them. At her gasp, he pushed his tongue forward, entering her mouth with a triumph grin, as she made little to no attempt to protest.

Satoshi's other hand, which had previously remained firmly in place holding Mayaka between him and the wall, got to work slipping under her shirt and unclasping her bra. It took barely a second for him to fiddle with the clasp, and for a short moment, Mayaka rose above the heated fog to imagine a time when Satoshi would have struggled with the article. Would have laughed at his inability to unclasp the foreign object. Would have rocked back, to straddle her on their second-rate queen bed, which they'd picked up at a garage sale because they were too poor to shop for real furniture, and said with the token smile that lit up her whole world, "Mayaka-chan? Can you help me?"

And Mayaka would have grinned that silly smile she wore just for him, just between them, and maybe even pouted a little for effect, "Really, Fuku-chan?"

When laughter and the warmth of smiles and sun had lit up their whole world.

But that was a different time, an imagined time, or was it a time long gone?

Instead, Satoshi unhooked the bra easily, cool and practiced, before his hand crept around her yet again to cup her newly released breasts. Using all of his strength, Satoshi pushed her harder against the wall and closer to a climax that Mayaka struggled to outrun. Because she wanted to run so badly. She wanted to grasp freedom in her hands, she supposed, but if the price was leaving Satoshi behind, she couldn't bear to take it.

So, instead, she gripped tighter to Satoshi, her fingers interlocking around the base of his neck, as she held onto him for dear life. Knowing that the moment she let go, her world would burst in a fit of color and energy, and the pieces of her life would shatter like fragile glass.

As the intensity in his fingertips ebbed and flowed, Mayaka wondered if he realized purple bruises were beginning to blossom in the cold patches of skin that were being roughly pushed against the wall.

And for a fleeting moment, Mayaka wondered if he cared.

Satoshi broke the kiss to instead suck on her breast, as he pushed a finger between her folds, smirking when she moaned out his name in a deep, husky breath.

"Do you still remember who you are, Mayaka?" he wanted to ask, but his tongue was already far too preoccupied in what he had to admit, was much more fun than teasing her (if such a thing existed). Mayaka was currently an easy target, and all his for the taking. And nothing was ever going to change that.

Little did he know, however, that Mayaka was surprisingly clear-minded as he molded her against him, pushing her closer and closer to a point of ecstasy, which only he could deliver.

And in that moment she too was wondering, "Do you still remember who you are, Fuku-chan?"

* * *

**A/N: A quick update as promised! This is my first real shot at doing something like this, so sorry if it was bad/didn't flow/had poor word choice/bad imagery/etc. Agh, even though I try and try again, smut is still so hard to write haha. **

**Ah well, hope y'all enjoyed this chapter and thank you to everyone who reviewed thus far! But of course, as usual, reviews are always welcome heheh... See you next time! :) **


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